Education is the foundation on which futures are built. Reading and math skills are the cement. If we want a Texas where more students graduate from high school college-ready or career-ready, we must build a secure foundation of education excellence.

Texas is already the No. 1 state for jobs, energy and exports. But Texas ranks 41st in fourth grade reading scores on The Nation's Report Card.

Reading is the most important academic skill children can learn in the formative years. A child cannot read to learn without first learning to read. If a student has fallen behind in reading by third grade, he or she is four times more likely to drop out of high school.

As governor, I want next year's pre-kindergarten class to graduate from high school in the top-ranked school system in the country.

This is where we will begin:

In 10 years, we will attain the highest high school graduation rate in the nation.

We will elevate Texas to the Top 10 states in math and reading scores.

And we will double the percent of third-graders reading and mastering math skills at or above grade level.

When we achieve these goals, we will not only be leading the nation, we will be preparing more of our high school students to succeed in college or in high-paying skilled jobs and in our military.

How do we reach those goals?

My Educating Texans Plan focuses on helping all kindergarten through third grade teachers become expert literacy teachers. I will equip K-3 teachers and their principals with new and innovative resources. These tools are particularly intended to help districts with underperforming schools to advance young readers even faster.

These include Reading Excellence Teams, offering skills coaching for K-3 reading teachers — in the classroom and during the school year. Literacy Achievement Academies will provide intensive face-to-face training programs with an innovative reading, writing and technology curriculum for K-3 reading teachers. And to ensure we are educating students for the more than one million new STEM-related jobs, Math and Technology Achievement Academies will offer advanced instruction in numeracy and technology for K-3 math teachers.

A key part of improving our K-3 program is improving our pre-kindergarten program. Currently, taxpayer-funded half-day pre-K is offered by our public school districts for 4-year-olds who are considered most at-risk academically.

As governor, I would create a gold standard for high-quality, accountable pre-K 4 programs. My plan provides additional funding to those districts that adopt the gold standard — the most rigorous of the already-existing TEA pre-K instruction guidelines.

Districts that adopt the pre-K 4 gold standard will receive an increase in per-student funding. How they invest that funding to meet all of the gold standard requirements for teacher qualifications, parental engagement and program measures is totally within their control.

These districts will have the freedom to determine how the higher standards are met. They also will be held accountable to continue to receive the increased funding.

For districts that choose to not adopt the higher pre-K 4 gold standard, their current funding is not at risk; however, they will not benefit from the additional state funding.

In Texas, we will cultivate a culture of aspiration and achievement. That means setting expectations of excellence for our children, teachers, principals and parents.